Supplemental Material

Table S1.Primers used for qRT-PCR.Table S2. Summary of transcriptome sequencing data.
Table S3. Alignment rates of effective RNA-seq sequences on the reference genome.
FIGURE S1. Morphology and schematic diagram of a fresh pedicle stump to show location of different differentiation states of PP (orange). (A) A pedicle stump immediately after hard antler casting. (B) Schematic drawing of the longitudinal cut surface of a pedicle stump immediately after hard antler casting. The three differentiation states of PP, AcPP, PoPP and DoPP, were delineated by the dotted lines. Note that DoPP is a thin layer that covers proximal two-thirds of the pedicle bone and loosely attached to the envelop skin; PoPP is a thin layer that covers a distal third of the pedicle bone and intimately associated to the envelop skin; AcPP is a thickened layer that encroaches peripherally onto the pedicle cast plane and intimately associated to the velvet antler skin.